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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Creative People – My Friend Lisa of Canvasworks

You’re probably not surprised that I have a whole bunch of creative friends. I think that when you are creative, you tend to surround yourself with like minded people. It is probably the reason you poke around here on my blog - you are creative too! I have a lot of knitting and yarny friends but I also have a lot of artist friends who paint, photograph, and do all kinds of art disciplines. I belong to a little local art group and we meet up in each other's homes a few times a year. It is great to chat with other artists and find that they have similar situations and problems as I do!

Today I’d like to share my friend Lisa Curry Mair with you all. Lisa and I have known each other since the mid 1980’s. We met in Groton, Massachusetts and joined an Art Group together called “The Dunstable Artisans.” Both Lisa and I did an Annual Crafts Show back then – me selling my pottery and she selling her floor cloths. Lisa rides horses and eventually she and her husband Bart bought a small farm in Perkinsville, Vermont. A few years later, we bought our farm here in western Massachusetts.

Lisa has had a stunning career in the decorative arts making historic and whimsical floorcloths. She specializes in historic reproductions and much of her work is in house museums throughout the Northeast. She has a great studio space where she can make enormous floorcloths. (I envy that space, you don’t know how much!) Several years ago, she wrote a book called “Floorcloth Magic” which was published by Storey who also published my Colorful Stitchery and Kristin Knits.

This is one of her floorcloths. Doesn’t it look like it belongs here on my blog with the “sunflower” theme and all?

Lisa is always ahead of the technical curve. She’s really great with a computer and is always one up on me! I always love to hear what she is up to. Her latest project is hosting a “How to Make a Floorcloth” Class on the internet! Wow. What a fabulous idea. It is very reasonably priced at $40. When you are done with the class, you will have your very own “Sunflower Floorcloth.” Maybe one day I will figure out the video teaching. One step at a time……..

And speaking of sunflowers - boy, it seems so long ago that they were blooming. Our sunflower field is covered with white snow now! To keep the "sunflower love" alive, I've added a Knitted Sunflower Pillow Pattern made of my Julia Yarn to my on-line shop. You can order it over on my website here. Any worsted weight will do. The great thing about knitting pillows is they don't need to fit anything! If you have a good stash of heavier yarn, use it. Your pillow will just be a little bigger. One day I will give you more a review about it.....

Love floorcloths, the class is very tempting. Thanks for letting us all know.

I cast on for a pair of "Daughter Mittens" yesterday. They are pretty, though I have not even finished one cuff. There is precious little Julia in the Michigan shops I frequent, but I am using 3 colors Julia (one you gave me at Stitches East a few years back) and one of a different yarn. Much fun.

Sometimes there is a real freedom to knitting what someone else decided was the way to do it. I'm hoping these can be finished without a really long wait.

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All words and photos are copyright by Kristin Nicholas. Please do not use my original photos or reprint my writing without asking me for permission. Please make sure you credit me as Photographer and link back to this blog. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me - my contact info is on the left sidebar. Thank you!